St. Louis Steals Series

On two different occasions during Game 6, the Cardinals were one strike away from losing the World Series.  Somehow, they managed to fight back and eventually win what many are calling one of the greatest baseball games ever played on a David Freese walk-off home run that sailed over the centerfield fence. 

But after a season chocked full of improbable comebacks and unbelievable endings from Robert Andino, Dan Johnson, Evan Longoria and others, the moral of the story was simple; never say never.  No one in his right mind picked the Cardinals to win this thing, especially when they didn't even have a snowball's chance in hell of making the playoffs less than two months ago, but here they are, champions of the world for the second time in six seasons.

It was nice to see some fireworks because outside of the Albert Pujols-led offensive outburst in Game 3.  This series, like most, had been ruled by pitching until the bats busted out again in Game 6 by clobbering a revolving door of 15 pitchers for 28 hits, 19 runs, and half a dozen long balls.  Every member of the Rangers starting lineup not named Colby Lewis notched at least one hit, and after going up 7-4 in the seventh inning Texas seemed to have its franchise's first World Series championship in the bag.  But despite holding a three run lead and needing only five outs (ring any bells, '03 Red Sox and Cubs?), Texas allowed St. Louis to knot the game after an Allen Craig solo shot in the eighth and a two-run triple by Freese (who was down 1-2) off Neftali Feliz, who was basically Mariano Rivera with his career postseason ERA sitting at a miniscule 0.87 before that fateful ninth inning. 

But then a hobbled Josh Hamilton morphed into Kirk Gibson and lofted a two-run big fly in the top of the tenth off Jason Motte, and just like that Texas was back in the driver's seat, poised to finish off their foes once and for all.  Unfortunately for the Rangers, Darren Oliver and Scott Feldman couldn't hold the lead and gave that pair of runs right back despite coming within one strike of extinguishing Lance Berkman.  Texas could muster nothing more than a Mike Napoli single against Jake Westbrook in the eleventh, and Freese sent everybody home with his game-ending home run to lead off the bottom of the inning.

And then the Rangers were dead, because teams that come so close in potential clinchers, only to let it slip through their fingers, always seem to lose the series.  Recently, the '86 Angels in the ALCS, '86 Red Sox in the World Series, '03 Cubs in the NLCS, and '04 Yankees in the ALCS all stumbled just before the finish line.  We can add the '11 Rangers to that list, because after plating a pair of runs off a tired Chris Carpenter in the first inning of the first World Series Game 7 since 2002, they looked lifeless.  Dead.  Defeated.  Matt Harrison labored against a lineup without Matt Holliday and was gone after four innings, although in fairness he only left his team with a one-run deficit.  But Carpenter seemed to gain strength as the game went on, scattering just three hits after the first and by the time he departed in the top of the seventh his Redbirds had their own three-run advantage.  The Cards would add one more in the bottom of the frame for good measure, but Texas only managed one baserunner over the final four innings as their offense vanished and their star-crossed season faded away. 

Motte closed the door with a 1-2-3 ninth, and with that the Cardinals capped off their Cinderella season with their franchise's eleventh World Series flag.  Freese followed up his NLCS MVP performance by taking home the Fall Classic MVP as well, becoming just the sixth player to win both awards in the same postseason.  It will be interesting to see what effect, if any, the title will have on Pujols' impending free agency.  I think he'll stay in St. Louis (even though they can't afford the Alex Rodriguez kind of contract he is reportedly seeking) if only because many of the perennial winter big spenders--Boston, New York Yankees, Philly--already have first base locked up, but if we've learned one lesson from the 2011 baseball season, it's that anything is possible.

Just ask the St. Louis Cardinals.